Today, radio reporter Jill Angel must decide which identity she wants. Her choice: To stay with the "security" of her primary career as sergeant on the California Highway Patrol, in the fast lane toward becoming a lieutenant. Or to go for the "opportunity" of becoming the prime morning traffic-weather reporter on KNX-AM (1070), replacing venerable punster Bill Keene, who is retiring.

Today, radio reporter Jill Angel must decide which identity she wants. Her choice: To stay with the "security" of her primary career as sergeant on the California Highway Patrol, in the fast lane toward becoming a lieutenant. Or to go for the "opportunity" of becoming the prime morning traffic-weather reporter on KNX-AM (1070), replacing venerable punster Bill Keene, who is retiring.

Zero visibility caused by a wind-whipped sandstorm caused a chain-reaction collision on California 138 north of Lancaster Friday, sending eight people to hospitals with minor to moderate injuries, the California Highway Patrol reported. The accidents, which occurred about 12:30 p.m. near 70th Street West, forced officials to close that portion of the highway for about 40 minutes, CHP Officer Ruffel Galura said.

May 18, 1993 | SUSAN KING, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

Turning In Her Badge: Radio reporter and California Highway Patrol Sgt. Jill Angel has decided. She will give up law enforcement and "go into radio and (perhaps) TV." She will accept KNX-AM's offer to replace traffic-weather reporter Bill Keene, who is retiring. "I just decided I don't want to look back five years from now" and wonder "where this could have gone," she said Monday. Her stint as the station's prime morning-drive reporter--she will continue afternoons until then--begins June 1.

Traffic accidents killed at least eight people in Los Angeles County during the Fourth of July weekend, and more than 600 people were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, officials said Tuesday. Statewide, 57 people were killed in traffic accidents during the holiday reporting period from 6 p.m. Friday through midnight Monday, compared to 51 in 1987, California Highway Patrol Officer Jill Angel said. At least 39 of those killed were not wearing seat belts, she said.

The California Highway Patrol will beef up its patrols by 25% in an effort to curb drunk drivers during the July 4 holiday weekend. People taking four-day trips in the record heat and comforting themselves with a cold beer are expected to increase the CHP workload, spokeswoman Jill Angel said in Los Angeles. Until midnight Sunday, three-fourths of the extra complement of officers will be exclusively on "drunk-driver watches," looking only for erratic and reckless drivers, she said.

The driver of a stolen sports car that slammed into a second vehicle in Agoura, causing four deaths, was identified Thursday by the California Highway Patrol as Bradford Taylor of Houston. Taylor, 38, was heading south at about 70 m.p.h. on Kanan Road around 1 p.m. Wednesday and tried to pass a van, witnesses told investigators.

In observance of Women's History Month, Estancia High School will present a Thursday conference on career opportunities for young women. The purpose is to teach self-esteem and self-sufficiency to students and to inform them about educational and career options, said Mimi Birch, assistant principal at Estancia.

An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer returned to his Palmdale house Monday and surprised four burglars, shooting one of them in the arm, authorities reported. The officer, his wife and two children, whose names were not released, came home shortly after 6 p.m. to find the draperies, which they had left open, drawn shut, CHP Officer Jill Angel said. The officer instructed his wife to take the children and call Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. He then entered the house, Angel said.

A California Highway Patrol officer, who was said to have been despondent over personal problems, apparently shot himself to death near the San Diego Freeway Wednesday morning, authorities said. Ronald William Webb, 34, of Sherman Oaks appears to have died from a single shot to his chest from his state-issued handgun, said CHP Sgt. Jill Angel, who worked with Webb in the agency's West Los Angeles bureau in Culver City.

Old-time parlor stoves, malt machines, big brass weighing scales and hundreds of other items fill the Discovery Shop in Northridge as volunteers convert it into an antique store. Thirty-five volunteers will wear pioneer costumes to recreate a slice of Americana for the shop's single largest collectible sale on Saturday. Marshall F.